android blackberry

I like options, but not pointless ones.  Here are a few on my phone:

[√] Voice Privacy
Enable enhanced privacy mode

Why would you disable that?  How about another one, with no description at all:

Noise reduction

Think about it this way.  Suppose the options were the other way around:

[√] Increase Noise
[√] Disable Privacy
Allow others to intercept your phone communications

Now, these options must be there because there is some disadvantage to them.  Perhaps the noise reduction feature causes your voice to cut-out more often.  Perhaps the privacy mode uses encryption that uses more battery life.  This is where Apple shines.  Apple would simply make an executive decision and remove these options.  If the noise reduction didn't always reduce noise, they would disable it.

Given the choice, I'll accept a few pointless options if it means I get the features I need.  But for more phoneaphobics, these options are obstacles.

P.S. Noise reduction defaulted to off.  A Google search reveals the opinion that the feature uses the dual-microphones to cancel noise.  Apparently noise reduction it isn't good for recording live music.

Quiz: Is the following box checked, or unchecked?




Well, it does have a check in it... but it is kinda gray... but the whole color scheme is muted...

Correct answer: unchecked.

If you are an Android developer, please do the following.

1. Get a piece of paper and a pen.
2. Draw a square on the piece of paper.
3. Do not draw a check mark in the box.
   Q: Is there a check mark in the box?
   A: No.  That is what we call "unchecked"

You might defend this by arguing that a weak disabled looking check indicates to the user that this is a check box.  But the beauty of a check box is that people are already familiar with them.  Young and old, bright and dumb, everyone has seen a check box on a paper form even if they have never used a computer before.  This is why the desktop UI paradigm is so powerful, because it is familiar to everyone.  Check boxes aren't techie computery things.  So there is no need for extra help here. The gray check is just confusing.

So is this a Samsung-only feature, or an Android feature?  I need to look at someone else's android phone.

I like the way they handle cursor positioning in a text box on Android.  The fundamental challenge here is figuring out how to position a 1-pixel wide cursor using a 40-pixel wide finger.

On Android, you touch a spot and the cursor goes there.  Then you get a little bubble that you can drag around for more precise positioning.  This allows you to be accurate without the bubble getting in the way.

On the iPhone, you touch and hold, which displays a magnifying glass showing you a blow-up of the screen.  The magnifying glass lets you see the cursor position more clearly.  The magnifying glass vanishes when you pick up your finger.  The problem I had was that after I released my finger the cursor would be one character to the left or right of where I was.

The magnifying glass isn't a general purpose magnifying glass though.  It only magnifies some parts of the screen while others are mysteriously blank.  The screen on my Droid is bigger, so maybe it doesn't  need the magnifying feature anyway.

I was quite surprised to learn that Google's blogger.com does not work on Google's web browser on their own operating system.  Here is what it looks like:
 

Do screen protectors actually help?
Do they reduce the sensitivity of the touch-screen ?

I had the Verizon rep install my screen protector based on their recommendation.  But after 2+ years my iPhone screen never got visibly damaged, even with my keys scraping against the screen in my pocket.  Supposedly the new screens are even stronger.  The iPhone touch screen was failing, but I don't think that was something a screen protector could have fixed.  When the screen would stop responding I would have to lock then unlock the phone to fix it.  There were no bad spots and no inaccuracy, so I conclude it was electrical or software.

I think the touch screen on my phone could be more sensitive, although it is adequate.

Post your thoughts:
- Do screen protectors really help?
- Do they have any downsides other than bubbles?

Editing

I already had a few items on my Google Calendar, so there was already stuff to fool around with. I clicked on an event, but... how do I edit it?  Here is what I tried:
X Edit button
X Hold down on event in the calendar view
X Hold down on date in the calendar view
X Hold down on anything in the detail view
√ Settings button!

Okay, it took me a moment to get the concept that the settings button is the equivalent to right-click for Android.  Now I like the idea - no screen real-estate required.  Still, after trying all of those items I expected something would respond like an edit screen.  Oh well, this is why one should RTFM.

Screen Layout

The screen has a ton of wasted space.  On my iPhone, all the calendar options appear on one screen.  On Android, I have to scroll down to see all the options.  Now granted, there are lots more options which is great, but I think it could fit much better.  Here I show the actual screen on the left, and my modified screen on the right:



By moving the labels to the left of the buttons instead of above, we eliminated lots of space.  A desktop publisher wouldn't like the lack of white-space (err... black-space) but for a UI this is just fine.  There is still plenty of room for a finger.  All this without decreasing the font-size (which I think is too big already).


The alarm options show the quintessential difference between Android and OS X.  My iPhone had 8 alarm options, and no ability to customize.  So if I needed the alarm to notify me 3 hours prior -- nope!  You can pick 1 hour, 2 hours, or 1 day with nothing in between.  That's ridiculous.  Android gives me some sensible defaults just like iPhone, but has that oh so vital "Customize" option.  If I push the "settings" button I can even add multiple alarms -- another obvious feature missing from the iPhone calendar.

My only complaint is that I have to scroll to see all the alarm options. This screen is the king of waste. Compare the iPhone (left) to the Android (right):

The iPhone has more options, on a physically smaller screen simply by eliminating unnecessary white-space.

There are a few other quirks:

• Time Zone doesn't seem like something most people will use very often.  I think they should move that below Alarm, Repeat, and Location.
• When adding an event for the first time, the option to specify which calendar it is on is disabled.  Once you go to the settings and view a different calendar, the option is now available.  Even if you restore the settings back to the way they were.

Verdict

The Android calendar wins over OS X by far.  A friend of mine (An Apple convert, BTW) has long lamented that the OS X calendar isn't even as capable as the Palm calendar from long ago.  Despite my criticisms of the screen layout, the feature set is far better even if I don't include the wireless calendar synch.

Other screen shots

Samsung unlock screen

Instead of "Slide to unlock" we get "fit puzzle to unlock" which seems like a way to get around some Apple patent.  It functions just like the iPhone except once you start to receive voice mails and text messages.  At that point, you get different puzzle pieces which unlock to various screens.  So you can go directly to the message screen, or the visual voice mail, or answer a call.  It makes total sense.

Apparently this is a Samsung thing, so good job Samsung.  So too is the screen shot capability I used here.  The Droid Charge lets you take screen shots by holding down the Back button for 3 seconds then pressing the Home button.  The screen shots get dumped into a ScreenCaptures folder off the root.  Yay for USB mass storage mode!  Apparently other Android phones require a bunch of downloads and installs to be able to take screen shots.  This earns Google a smack-in-the-back-of-the-head.

Since everything in Android is customizable, I assume there is some App to make it a Rubik's cube or a dancing Android or something.



UPDATE:
This is the same screen showing a text message and 3 voice mails. I love how there are two clocks on the screen showing different times.

Android phones, like Windows PCs, come preloaded with garbage.  This includes trial software (Rock Band, Lets Golf 2), redundant software (Verizon vCast Apps), and apps that seem to do nothing except display license agreement (VZ Navigator, Thinkfree Office).

But before I get into that, lets talk about the home screen. 

The home screen is missing the basics I came to use every day on my iPhone.  These are:

• Calendar

• Notes

• Camera

• Maps

• Weather

They are all probably there, but buried.  So what do Samsung and Verizon think are the most important things that belong on your home screen?  Mobile Hotspot, Media Hub, Android Market, Verizon Apps, VZ Navigator, and Guided Tour.

I don't expect to use any of these things on a regular basis.  The VZ Navigator might make sense, and I get why the Guided Tour is on the home screen.  Buying apps isn't something one does regularly.  Nor will most people be using their phone as a mobile hotspot.  I think the criteria for "most important apps" must be the ones with the longest license agreements.

This is no different from how Microsoft Windows comes out of the box.  If you buy from an OEM you get 50 icons in your Start Menu so you will have a tough time figuring out how to write a letter.  Fortunately, Android does have a Dock.

The Dock contains Phone, Contacts, Messaging, and Applications.  All of those make sense except Applications.

If you have an application and you want to use it, it should go onto one of the available screens.  If it isn't on one of those screens, the app should be uninstalled.  So I see this button like the Windows "Add/Remove software" button.  Other than that purpose, having a button that gives you a disorganized, unsortable list of apps is silly.  Apple got this part right - no "applications" button.

Items to resolve:
• How do I take a screen shot?
• What note taking app is on the phone?

I have had a love-hate relationship with my iPhone since the day I got it.  Ultimate power (muhuhahahaha!) in my pocket, yet completely unable to do the first few things I wanted it to do.  I couldn't copy files to it, couldn't copy my music collection to it, and compile existing code for it for it.  It refused to run apps in the background (fixed now).  The Bluetooth doesn't work with the Bluetooth on my Mac.  And the phone doesn't even show as a USB flash drive when you plug it in: WTF???  But after time I too learned to drink that oh so tasty kool-aid.  The voice search was wonderful, answers to bar trivia flowed faster than the beer, and the birds had a good reason to be angry.  But since I couldn't get AT&T service from my home or my work, the device became an expensive toy.  PHONE FIRST, APPS SECOND.

AT&T's solution to service issues is to sell you a microcell.  That absolutely was not possible at the office, and I was under this (obviously mistaken) impression that I paid AT&T to provide service.  If I buy a cell tower and provide the bandwidth then what am I paying a monthly fee for…?  Their staff was unhelpful on this issue.  They would look at a map and say "well, that area is covered."  I wonder if AT&T employees would drive across a lake if the map said there was a bridge there.

I'll talk about Android in my next post.

Vital Stats



First impression

Imagine someone simultaneously choking and burping simultaneously, while trying to say the word "DRRROIIIDDD!"  That is the default sound on my phone.  My first smack-on-the-back-of-the-head goes out to the Google marketing team for this one.